Fight & Defend
by Nightlife Eyes
Summary: ArMor kid!fic! Arthur saves Morgana, it's always been this way but this time the danger isn't an invisable dragon or a make believe curse, it's real! 1shot! Please Read & Review!


**Fight And Defend**

Morgana is a skilled swordsman, a fighter defiantly but it didn't happen the way everyone thinks, her father hadn't taught her, he'd never had a reason and she hadn't thought of learning, she didn't come to Camelot as anything but a scared little girl and Arthur didn't know what to do with her, he stayed by her side but they didn't talk much, any awkward conversation he started ultimately ended when she spoke only a few words and he couldn't think of anything to ask her, but one day it was Morgana that spoke first and it was more than two or three words, she asked him to tell her about the stories an old knight had spun at the last ball, were they true, what else did he know about knights and dragons and damsels? The stories seemed to fascinate Morgana and, eager to impress her Arthur suggested a game, she'd run and hide and he'd come a find her, save her like knights are supposed to do with damsels in distress, Morgana agreed. She saw no reason not to, the damsels lived happily ever after with the knight. Morgana wasn't begging Arthur to teach her how to fight, if they were both knights who would be the maiden, Arthur would count to 50 and Morgana would run and hide and wait for Arthur to come and rescue her from whatever danger they'd invented that week and when he did Morgana was happier than ever when he saved her, when Arthur came charging across the land, sword drawn and ready, Morgana smiled brighter than he'd ever seen her. Arthur would then proceed to slay the dragon or whatever it was that kept Morgana from him as she cheered him on from the sidelines, once the danger was gone he'd drop his sword and go over to her, they'd formed a habit of conversation somewhere along the way.  
_'M'lady'  
'M'champion'  
'Are you ok?'  
'I am now, thank-you.'  
_And then she'd kiss him, mostly on the cheek and Arthur didn't mind, it was the way it was supposed to happen, the knight saved the maiden and they lived happily ever after. He'd take her hand in his, gather his sword and walk back to the castle together. Soon enough this game became their favourite and they played it nearly every day, Arthur liked being the saviour, he liked being brave like the knights he watched and admired, even more than that he loved seeing Morgana smile when he saved her, he didn't mind her kissing him either. Morgana liked that no matter where she ran or where she hid Arthur came and Arthur fought and Arthur saved her, he thought she was important enough to fight for.

Uther was trying to secure an alliance with a neighbouring country, Arthur didn't know what was going on exactly but Uther and the man seemed to be talking about Morgana, Arthur might not have known why they were talking about Morgana and her future and then tying it to the future of Camelot but Arthur knew he didn't like it. The man had two sons and Arthur didn't particularly like either of them. But as the prince and king's ward Arthur and Morgana were obliged to entertain them, having been sent out into the castle grounds the four of them tried to find something to do and Arthur suggested _'knights & damsels'_, Morgana quickly agreed, the smile appearing on her face, the two boys however didn't look convinced. So Arthur explained how they play.  
_'& then we save her.' _He finished.  
_'Why would we save her?'_ the older boy, John asked.  
_'That's what knights do.'_ Arthur said shocked that he didn't seem to understand that.  
_'Tell you what, you find her you save her, we find her we capture her.'_ He said smirking.  
_'There's two of you though, that's not fair.'_ Arthur protested.  
_'Who cares about fair?'_ John asked.  
_'Yeah who cares?'_ Richard asked.  
_'Well i'm outnumbered.'_ Arthur said.  
_'You're not scared are you?' _John asked.  
_'No.'_ Arthur said stubbornly.  
_'Then prove it.' _John said.  
_'Fine.' _Arthur sighed. John turned to Morgana.  
_'This is going to be fun.' _He said.  
_'Arthur's going to save me just like always, you don't stand a chance.'_ Morgana informed him and walked over to Arthur's side giving him a reassuring smile. It was then Arthur believed he could do it, find Morgana first, save her, fight both the boys standing in front of them and win. He could do anything as long as Morgana was standing beside him smiling like that, as long as she believed in him like she did right at that moment.  
_'Ok we have to count to 50 so Morgana can go and hide.'_ Arthur said and everyone agreed, Morgana turned and started to run into the forest and the three boys began counting. John stoped at 30 and told Richard it was time to go, Arthur thought about protesting but knew it would only waste time so he got up and ran in the opposite direction John & Richard went, they were following where Morgana had run to but Arthur knew her better than that. After checking all the places Morgana usually liked to be found he remember a clearing he hadn't checked yet and rushed off for it. Morgana was there but unfortunately so were Richard and John.  
_'We captured you, we captured you,'_ Richard chanted as he danced around waving his wooden sword in the air happily, John was holding Morgana trying to tie her up with some rope but she was struggling and it looked, though Arthur couldn't tell from such a distance, as if she was crying.  
_'Hold still.'_ John demanded.  
_'Let go of her!'_ Arthur shouted and ran into the clearing, the three turned to look at him.  
_'Arthur!'_ Morgana shouted a smile appearing across her tear stained face.  
_'You're too late.'_ John said smirking.  
_'Yeah we captured her.'_ Richard said sticking his tongue out.  
_'It's not over until the two of you are on the ground.'_ Arthur said holding his sword out in front of him and getting into the battle position, John rolled his eyes and waved his hand at Richard.  
_'Fine then.'_ He said and Richard jumped up ready to fight Arthur. Morgana stood and watched the Arthur and Richard fight until John yanked on her arm planning to pull her away into the forest.  
_'Ow get off of me.'_ Morgana shouted and pulled her arm from his grip, Arthur risked a look over at her and because of it Richard was able to knock him to the ground. John yanked on Morgana's arm again and started pulling her towards the tree line behind them.  
_'Arthur!'_ Morgana screamed digging her heels in and looking back at him. Morgana had never screamed his name like that before, there was something in her voice, something he couldn't describe, she'd never needed him like this before, none of the dangers had ever been real, the witches and wizards had been imaginary, no dragon had ever beaten him, no curse left unbroken, no enemy had ever been this close to actually hurting Morgana. It had all been pretend until now. Arthur jumped to his feet and Morgana screamed his name again.  
_'Shut up.' _John exclaimed angrily and hit her across his face with the back of his hand. It was then Arthur snapped no one had ever hit Morgana like that and he wanted to make sure no one ever would again. He wanted to be able to save her from John because if he didn't all the other times he'd saved her would mean nothing. Richard stood with his sword ready for another fight but Arthur yanked it from his hand and threw it to the ground next to his own fallen sword. Richard went to hit him but Arthur simply shoved the younger boy to the ground and made his way over to John and Morgana.  
_'Let her go.'_ Arthur said, his voice as threatening as he could get it. John shoved Morgana off to the side and went to punch Arthur but Arthur was ready for it and ducked it and crash tackled John to the ground. The two boys wrestled as Morgana and Richard watched, Arthur kicked and punched and clawed and John did too but soon enough Arthur was the one on his feet. As John lay on the ground Arthur moved to Morgana's side and wordlessly took her hand in his, she didn't kiss him, she was too shaken instead she just clutched his hand as though it was her one lifeline in the world. No one said anything as all four children looked at each other. John got to his feet and Richard scrambled up and broke the silence when he announced he was telling, John agreed and the two rushed off heading for the castle.  
_'Are you ok?' _Arthur asked. Morgana just nodded yes and then the two headed back to the castle as well.

When they got back to the castle Richard & John had already finished telling their side of the story to both their father & Uther, Uther was prepared to punish Arthur on the spot until he Morgana's cut cheek, once she showed him the overlapping purple handprints on her upper arm before she could show him the rope burn on her wrists the boys father stepped in and announced they'd be leaving within the next two days, Uther agreed that would be best. For the rest of the day Arthur and Morgana didn't move more than a couple of meters from each other, after dinner they stayed in Morgana's room and when it came time for bed neither wanted to leave the other and refused to release their hands. After a few minutes of neither child moving and no one being able to pry them away from each other without causing a scene the two were allowed to stay together, Arthur and Morgana huddled together in Morgana's large bed and drifted off to sleep still holding the other's hand.

When Arthur woke up the next morning he was confused, he looked around Morgana's room and couldn't figure out why until he remembered what had happened yesterday. He looked over at Morgana who was still sleeping, he couldn't see her cut cheek or the bruises on her upper arm, the rope burn bruise around her wrist was the only sign he could see but he knew the others were there. Yesterday had scared him, the idea that he could ever lose Morgana had never entered his mind, it hadn't been a possibility in their games before, the threats had all been pretend, nothing real could hurt them but yesterday he realised that one day the dangers could be real, one day Morgana might be in danger and he might not be able to save her. That was the thought that scared him the most, Morgana getting hurt and him not able to help her. He knew his protection just wouldn't be enough, when they were older he could have an entire team of knights whose sole purpose was to protect Morgana, he didn't ask why he was so sure that it would be him and Morgana together as king & queen in the future he just knew that was how it was meant to be. But until then Arthur knew that although he would always try he wouldn't always be enough; that was when he made up his mind and nudged Morgana gently waking her. Morgana looked over at him.  
_'What's wrong?' _she asked.  
_'Come with me.'_ Arthur said slipping out of bed, Morgana sat up and watched him, waited a moment before doing the same.  
_'Where are we going?' _she asked as she reached his side. Arthur didn't answer he just held out his hand, Morgana took it and they carefully and quietly snuck out of her room and started to make their way down the hall.  
_'Arthur where are we going?' _Morgana asked in a whisper Arthur turned to answer her but then Uther turned the corner and spotted them.  
_'My you two are up early.'_ He said and Arthur spun around to face his father, Morgana clutched his hand tighter. _'Where are you going at this hour?' _it wasn't so early, maybe 6 but it certainly was earlier than either of the children were usually up and about.  
_'Um...'_ Arthur began, he wasn't a quick thinker, especially not when it came to lying to his father, luckily Morgana was generally better skilled in both areas.  
_'We were going to get some breakfast, we didn't eat much at dinner.'_ She said with a soft smile and Arthur nodded quick to agree to the escape plan.  
_'Well you weren't the only ones with that idea this morning.' _Uther said with a smile as he continued to the dinning hall excepting Arthur & Morgana to follow, they shared a look but did trailing a few paces behind the king. The others were already there, as soon as they soon John the mood in the room changed. Arthur shifted himself in front of Morgana to shield her slightly as though John was going to leap across the table and attack Morgana again. The move was small and instinctual but everyone in the room noticed it. Arthur and Morgana sat next to each other, as close to the door and as far from John as they could, they quickly ate their breakfast and left as soon as possible. Out on the grounds they started walking away from the castle but away from the forest as well.  
_'Morgana about yesterday.'_ Arthur began feeling the need to talk about it but finding it hard to find the words.  
_'I didn't thank-you, i'm sorry.'_ Morgana said and kissed him, closer to the mouth than the cheek.  
_'Thank-you.'_ she said pulling away and smiled for the first time that day, for a minute Arthur almost forgot what was happening because he realised that Morgana was truly beautiful when she smiled.  
_'I want to make sure that yesterday never happens again.'_ Arthur said.  
_'It's ok Arthur.'_ Morgana said. _'You didn't your best.'_  
_'And my best wasn't good enough.'_ Arthur exclaimed frustrated.  
_'Yes it was, you saved me.'_ Morgana said grabbing Arthur's arm and trying to get him to look her in the eyes.  
_'Well what if next time i'm too late or i can't save you? What then?'_ Arthur asked, Morgana didn't say anything and the two of them kept walking. Arthur looked over the muddy grounds and saw the training ground where the knights would spar each other, a few wooden swords they gave to children to use.  
_'I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself.'_ Arthur announced.  
_'Are you sure?'_ Morgana asked.  
_'Of course i'm sure why shouldn't i be, you need to know how to protect yourself if anything happens and i'm not there to help you.'_ Arthur explained.  
_'But won't you get in trouble? Girls aren't supposed to fight.'_ Morgana pointed out and that was true only young boys were taught by the knights.  
_'i don't care you need to know.'_ Arthur said and showed her a defensive stance.


End file.
